This NOAA satellite image taken Thursday, October 25, 2012 at 10:45 AM EDT shows Hurricane Sandy over the Bahamas with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph and moving toward the north. Farther north, a cold front moves into the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley with showers and thunderstorms. (AP PHOTO/WEATHER UNDERGROUND)

It's a bit unusual for hurricanes to track their way northeast and with Irene's arrival late last August, some might have thought the region was finished with that type of weather phenomenon for at least a few years.

However, if weather patterns play out the way the National Hurricane Center is predicting, the mid-Atlantic and Northeast region will experience its second hurricane in as many years sometime Monday or early Tuesday.

If this happens, it would be the first time since 1954 and 1955, when hurricanes have hit the northeast in back-to-back years.

Before Hurricane Irene struck last year, the previous northeast hurricane was Floyd in 1999, which cause severe flooding in the lower-lying portions of Delaware County.

Exactly where Sandy will make landfall is still a bit up in the air, so to speak.

The EURO weather prediction model has the eye hitting the center of the southern coast of New Jersey, near Cape May. The GFS model, which originally had the storm staying away from the coast, also is now predicting it will hit Long Island sometime Tuesday.

The National Hurricane Center's model has Sandy impacting the central New Jersey coast late Monday and because of its wide path of wind and rain, causing extensive damage to the region.

"Right now, we are firmly in the projected path according to the National Hurricane Center," National Weather Service meteorologist Mitchell Gaines said Thursday morning. "Right now, it has the center of it located only about 15 miles off the New Jersey coastline."

Sandy blew through Cuba on Wednesday evening and then hit the Bahamas on Thursday morning with winds of over 100 mph.

"It's expected to move north over next 24 to 36 hours before turning more to the northeast," Gaines said, "and then turn to the northwest early next week."

The expected wide path of Sandy also makes it unique, meaning it won't just be shore areas that are affected. The weather website Weather Underground (wunderground.com) forecasts the storm's path could cause extensive flooding and wind damage as much as 300 miles from its eye.

"The rain and wind regions with this storm will be quite extensive," Gaines said.

While some have predicted the storm could produce as much as 20 inches of rain, Gaines said that amount is not likely.

"That's usually an extreme case," he said. "We don't have forecasts on that yet. We just don't have any estimates at this time."

One reason it's hard to make estimates is that weather coming from the northwest could affect how Sandy acts and make it the dreaded perfect storm.

"Actually in conjunction with the ridge from the northeast, that could make (Sandy) steer closer to land and our coastline," Gaines said. "The interaction with that funnel zone will help keep it going and will add both rain and wind."

Also, if Sandy does take the predicted path and makes landfall sometime Monday, it would tie the mark for the latest hurricane on record to hit the Northeast. According to Weather Underground's online records, a hurricane hit the northeast Oct. 29, 1693 -- 219 years ago to the day Monday.

"To have a tropical system at this time is fairly unusual," Gaines said.

If Sandy hits New York City, it would be the its first direct hurricane hit since Sept. 3, 1821.

Meteorologists have difficulty forecasting the strength of Sandy winds when it reaches the region because weather prediction models sometimes do not accurately gauge a storm's strength as it transitions from a hurricane down to a tropical storm or extratropical storm.

No matter how strong Sandy is when it reaches land, it just may be best to be prepared for the worst.